Large cell neuroendocrine carcinoma of the lung: a 10-year clinicopathologic retrospective study.

BACKGROUND: Large cell neuroendocrine carcinoma is a recently recognized histologic entity whose clinical features and optimal treatment have not yet been well defined and are still being assessed. We report our retrospective assessment of cases of large cell neuroendocrine carcinoma observed from 1989 to 1999 in terms of survival. METHODS: Cases of large cell neuroendocrine carcinoma diagnosed between 1989 and 1999 were reassessed retrospectively according to the World Health Organization classification. The clinical outcome and pathologic features of all cases are described. Survival rates of patients with large cell neuroendocrine carcinoma are compared with those patients with small cell lung cancer treated in the same period. RESULTS: Patients were 41 men and 7 women with an average age of 63.7 years. Twenty-nine patients (60.4%) had pathologic stage I disease, 11 patients (22.9%) had pathologic stage II disease, and 7 patients (14.6%) had pathologic stage IIIA disease. One patient (2.1%) had pathologic stage IIIB disease. No patient underwent induction chemotherapy. Two patients underwent adjuvant chemotherapy and 2 underwent mediastinal radiotherapy for N2. No death was reported in the perioperative period. The median follow-up was 5 years. The actuarial survival for the entire group was 60.4% at 1 year, 27.5% at 3 years, and 21.2% at 5 years. The actuarial survival of accurately staged, stage I patients at 5 years was 27%. CONCLUSIONS: The findings suggest that treating large cell neuroendocrine carcinoma by means of applying treatment for nonsmall cell lung cancer leads to a prognosis that is worse than that for nonsmall cell lung cancer, even in terms of low pathologic stages.

Solitary fibrous tumor of the spinal nerve rootlet: report of a case mimicking schwannoma.

We report a case of solitary fibrous tumor involving the spinal nerve root at the L1-L2 level in a 67-year-old man. The patient presented with lumbar pain and weakness in his right lower extremity. Histologically, the tumor was composed of a proliferation of monomorphous spindle cells in an abundant collagenous stroma; neither necrosis nor mitoses were evident. These cells were strongly immunoreactive with CD34, Bcl-2, CD99, and vimentin, but were negative with S100 protein, smooth muscle actin, and epithelial membrane antigen. Such an immunohistochemical profile was consistent with a solitary fibrous tumor of the spinal nerve rootlet and ruled out the main differential diagnoses, schwannoma and meningioma. The present case suggests that solitary fibrous tumor should be considered in differentiating spindle cell lesions of the spinal cord and nerve rootlet.

Combined small cell carcinoma and clear cell carcinoma of the gallbladder: report of a case and review of the literature.

We report a case of an incidental combined carcinoma of the gallbladder in a 66-year-old woman who underwent cholecistectomy for gallstones. The neoplasm was mainly constituted by a clear cell component and a small cell, chromogranin-positive one; it also showed some areas of conventional adenocarcinoma and foci of vascular invasion. The patient died after 3 years following treatment with combination chemotherapy. The histologic and immunohistochemical profile of the lesion is described, together with a brief review of the pertinent bibliography.

Sclerosing haemangioma with a predominant sclerotic pattern: an unusual pulmonary lesion which can be misdiagnosed.

AIMS: An unusual sclerosing haemangioma of the lung with a predominant sclerotic pattern is described. MAIN RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: The patient was a 51-year-old male, presenting with a well-circumscribed nodule, 0,6 cm in diameter, located in the lower lobe of the left lung. He is alive and well 9 years after surgical excision of the nodule. Microscopically, the lesion was well demarcated and mostly composed of sclerotic tissue, with numerous irregular entrapped alveolar spaces The characteristic bland, round cells with abundant pale cytoplasm, immunohistochemically positive for TTF-1 and negative for cytokeratin, were limited to small clusters embedded in the stroma at the periphery of the nodule. The most important differential diagnostic considerations of the sclerotic variant of pulmonary sclerosing haemangioma are briefly discussed.